Dots of Fire

Last week a member of the Promotions and Special Events Department walked into the Ticket Operations offices with a question. "Does anyone want to run in the live dot race tonight?" Ever since the fuzzy red, white, and blue costumes emerged in the hallway during last offseason it's been the desire of a few Ticket Ops employees to run. John and Travis immediately jumped at the opportunity.

The two men were lead to the costumes during the early innings of the Wednesday, September 23 A's game. Hidden under the bleachers the guys tried on the oversized shoes. John and his large feet fit snuggly into the shoes. Travis' puppies didn't fit quite so well. "Feels like my feet are about to fall out of the cloud they're hiding in," he noted as he high stepped his practice run.

Donning the costumes for the first time, John and Travis both agreed it's dark inside without an easy way to scratch your nose. "My head hit the top," John said, noting the limited head room. Vision is limited, but better than they thought. Still, Travis advises, "I wouldn't recommend driving a car."

Along with Brian from the A's promotions crew, all three employees climbing into their respective costumes. Brian in the Blue Dot, Travis in the Red Dot, and John in the White Dot, thankfully leaving alone the pretty pink bow on this dot costume. The runners had just 90 seconds on the field in total. That time includes introduction, the race, and quickly getting off the field. In the middle of the fourth inning they emerged from left field wall. Lined at the warning track, public address announcer Dick Callahan introduced the race. And then they were off! Blue Dot Brian and White Dot John rocketed toward third base, where Stomper waited as the place to turn. Red Dot Travis was already behind. At the turn Blue and White tore around Stomper and passed Red lumbering in dress slacks toward the elephant. Stomper shrugged, as if to wonder what medical emergency was occurring inside the Red Dot to cause such delay.

Ahead, Blue and White fought for the win. "I looked (at Blue) and we were, well, not neck and neck... more like nub to nub," John recounts as he pushed ahead for the photo finish victory. "It was a fun, unique experience," John continued. "I was out of breath for two hours afterward."

Meanwhile, Red labored toward the finish line. "I saw the other dots sipping Mai Tai's on lounge chairs beyond the finish line so I knew I didn't perform. There was already a Texas player in the outfield, who gave me a bewildered look," Travis painfully remembers from his disappointing run. "The boos! I heard a few, but one guy somewhere in the Section 130 area was really loud. It was actually pretty funny." Red made it off the field with just 10 second to spare. "Apparently they wanted me off the field bad. It was a thrill, but I think I'm retired from competitive dot racing."

John, on the other hand, was congratulated just after his accomplishment. "Hey! I knew you were a guy," yelled a fan in on the edge of the Section 134 Bleachers. People seemed to enjoy the competitive challenge between White and Blue, and the Red Sloth, er, Dot too. As the A's dot racing commercial says, 100% Fuzzy Fun.